High Chairs, Kisses, and Kittens

What a long day it was today! I am pooped! It's about 11 and I am trying to blog every single day so I am needing to do this before I go to bed. I have emails I need to write but they will have to wait until tomorrow!

So the day started off with me needing to call and get reservations for father's day. We are going to the Grand Island Mansion in Ryde. It will be Emily, my step-mom Michele and my dad and I. I encountered something for the 2nd time...a restaurant that says that babies are more than welcome...but they don't have high chairs. Hmmm. I don't quite get it. I asked the lady what do I do - is there room for a stroller? She said it gets quite packed - which I already know - so not really. I asked what other people do and she said "well, you can bring your own high chair". Do people do that??? I actually went out and found a portable one that fits on a chair and folds up very compact! It was only $20 and a few others had told me how awesome it worked so at least we have that now. I am NOT about to bring our high chair from home. Quite honestly, I have NEVER seen anyone do that before. I think I just find it odd they don't have high chairs in restaurants these days - especially a place that holds weddings and receptions. It almost feels like baby discrimination.

I have noticed lately that every restaurant we go to we are seated in the "baby" section, or the section that is the farthest away from everyone. I wonder why that is??? I assume it's because people don't like to hear crying babies but I think it's VERY rare if Emily cries in a restaurant. In fact, I think it only happened once that she was REALLY upset. It's kinda funny to be taken to the farthest point in the restaurant and to see other babies all around you - yet no where else in the restaurant are they to be found. Like I said, I never really noticed that kind of stuff before until we had Emily.

We also experienced another type of "discrimination" (it feels weird calling it that - but it almost feels that way) when we went to see the "Bodies Revealed" exhibit. We were told we couldn't bring our stroller in. It seemed everyone we encountered that had small children were QUITE upset they couldn't bring theirs in either! We talked to a few people who couldn't understand (like us) how they could accommodate a person in a wheelchair (which a wheelchair is A LOT wider and bigger than a stroller) - but they couldn't accommodate a stroller??? We had to carry Emily in our arms through a 2 hour exhibit. She was younger then and we were lucky she fell asleep about an hour or so into the exhibit - but not without some fussing first. If we had to do that today - I think both Erik and I would be walking out pretty exhausted since she is getting heavier and heavier. I didn't get the whole stroller vs. wheelchair thing then I don't now either. I can see why they have to let someone in a wheelchair in, but how come strollers couldn't go in? One father that was pretty upset asked if he could lay his child in the wheelchair (in the carseat) and push him that way. They said no. I am curious if other parents have witnessed this kind of stuff?

At any rate, later on in the day Emily and I made our way to Walmart to look for the portable booster seat. We were strolling down the cereal aisle and there was a lady that was waving and saying hi to Emily. Emily is such a friendly baby so she waved hi back and clapped and squealed and stuff. I smiled and giggled because it was really cute. Then I am reading the ingredients on a cereal box and as I put it back up on the shelf the lady starts walking over and by the time I turned around she gave Emily a kiss on the cheek. :| :| :| :| :| I didn't know how to react but I felt REALLY weird about it and just walked away - and I am sure I had a look on my face that showed that it wasn't okay to do that. Am I being paranoid about it? How do you handle things like that? Do I just need to relax?? (You can tell me - I won't be offended!). I don't even necessarily like strangers touching her hands or any part of her but a kiss...that was just very very ODD to me. You wouldn't find me going up to a complete stranger and kissing them, or their children. It was just VERY odd to me and I just didn't like it. But then again...I am a first time mom...is this something that happens normally???

So after the kissing incident we came home for a quick nap and then up to Napa to actually BUY the booster seat (no place seemed to have it but Target) and then to dinner and then off to the firehouse to see Erik. As we pulled up Amy (Erik's sister) could hear a little kitten in distress. I didn't really notice it at first because I was too busy pulling the bean out of her car seat. She went and looked for it and then came back to tell me a poor little kitten had fallen down a pipe and was stuck. I couldn't believe it! Poor little thing! So we went inside, told the guys and we found out it had been there a WEEK! So Erik's Captain came out to try and get it out but as soon as he tried, they got a call so Amy continued trying while I was holding our HEAVY HEAVY daughter (can't wait to get that Ergo) for the hour or more while she tried to entice it out. Finally Erik and his crew came back and they were able to rescue the adorable little thing! It was so hungry and scared but absolutely adorable - and SO small - it was a pretty new kitten! I am just glad it's safe now and didn't die of starvation down the drain pipe! : )

So that is my blog for the day. I am exhausted and I don't even think I made much sense nor did I even spell check or grammar check - so deal with it! LOL! Anyways...I am off to bed for some MUCH NEEDED sleep! :)

Til tomorrow...